Lessons from the California Coastal Oil Spill

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10/19/2021 Edit: When I wrote this post, they estimated that there was 144,000 gallons of oil in the spill. They have now reduced this estimate to 25,000 gallons, but the lessons still remain.

By now, most of you have heard about the giant oil spill that is affecting coastal Orange County, California, where a burst pipeline in federal waters spewed 144,000 gallons of oil into the ocean. It’s now moving to the shore in some areas, and oiled animals are washing up, needing treatment. Fish are dying.

There is a lot of talk and blame going around, much of it justified, toward the company who owns the pipeline, the lackluster Coast Guard response, the federal government, and the cargo ships peppering our waters, whose anchors are a suspected cause of the burst.

However, there is a lesson in this for all of us, just as there is with climate change. When we live out of balance with nature, we suffer along with nature. We all contribute to this – and it’s a similar situation with climate change.

Our health is tied to the health of the planet

I talk a lot about health on my podcasts and write about it on this blog, but health doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Our health depends on the health of our planet. Oil spills, as well as natural disasters due to human-induced climate change, don’t only devastate the planet. They also hurt us, and damage our health. A lot of people think health is just something we control, and that what happens around us on the planet doesn’t matter. That’s not true.

What can we learn from this ecological disaster?

Being born and raised in Southern California means I have always had a fondness for the ocean. While I’m not a surfer or anything like that, I grew up spending summers in old town San Clemente, swimming and boogie boarding in the waves. I now live with my family in Laguna Beach. Much of my social media content pays homage to the beauty of our beaches and ocean through the many photos I take during my beach walks.

I didn’t fully understand the impact of the oil spill when I first heard about it. I assumed this always happened – I mean, the waters of Huntington Beach are littered with oil platforms. I figured that it would be cleaned up quickly. Boy, was I wrong. It’s a disaster, especially for the cities of Newport Beach and Huntington Beach. Although the full impact to Laguna Beach isn’t yet known, the beaches are closed until further notice. This has upset a lot of people, as do the images of oiled birds from Huntington Beach. People want to help clean up, but are being told they need to wait a bit.

What is the lesson?

In the meantime, we can think about what lessons we can learn from this oil spill, as well as other ecological disasters. We have long lived disconnected from nature – and in recent years, even more so. We are all connected to this spill in some form. We all use oil, even if we drive electric cars, because petroleum is used to make everything from cosmetics to pills to eyeglasses.

The much-maligned cargo ships dotting the California coastline contain goods ordered by all of us, shipped here from distant shores. There aren’t enough dockworkers to unload them, because, as in many industries right now, essential workers are tired of substandard wages, poor working conditions and treatment, and are quitting their jobs. For most of the pandemic, they worked hard, risking exposure to COVID-19, while most of society hunkered down at home.

The pandemic has brought a boon to online ordering, home renovations, appliance upgrades, and purchases of big-ticket items. Unfortunately, there is too much “stuff” to unload and not enough workers to unload them, and everyone is pointing fingers at the ships. But we are all part of this supply chain emergency (and I too, love my Amazon deliveries, so I am also to blame here).

But what can we do, and how can we learn from this and other ecological disasters, which will only increase due to climate change? First of all, we shouldn’t take nature for granted. The beaches, ocean, trails, mountains, and forests we are gifted require us to take care of them. Secondly, we can examine our own habits and see what we can pare down and how we can live in a simpler way. And yes, we can also lobby for change –for this issue, to have no more oil drilling in our waters, and for corporations to make changes necessary to avoid climate-related disasters.

Living out of balance with nature

We are living out of balance with our mother Earth. This is something indigenous people worldwide have been reminding us throughout the ages. But we haven’t listened. Yes, productivity, progress, competition, personal strength, dominance, and “winning” are part of life. It’s the law of the jungle, and we are mammals. But we are also humans, and capable of collaboration, empathy, slowing down, sharing, being mindful, and working toward a common goal.

The “divine feminine” in all of us has been suppressed throughout the ages, and when we all get in touch with that – empathy, gentleness, receiving, and our intuition – we will be able to live more in balance with nature, and lobby our governments and corporations to make the right decisions that affect our planet. For example, the fish that are not dead from this oil spill will be tainted for years to come. The oil will be in the plankton they eat, and this isn’t easily cleaned up, We will eventually eat fish from these waters again – not now, but soon, and our health will suffer. Our health will also suffer from the many fires, hurricanes, and other natural disasters that will be caused by climate change, a completely different, but related issue.

I don’t have any answers, and I am just as much to blame as anyone else. All we can do is try to be better stewards of our planet, ourselves, and care for each other, too. And demand that change occurs from the very top. I think we can do this. And I hope we remember this, long after the oil is gone and the beaches are clean again.